The Indian Encyclopaedia describes a Gosha or a Gosha woman as one who follows the Islamic law of concealing herself from the sight of men, except certain close relatives. It considers it a word derived from the

Hindustani language Hindustani (; Devanagari: , * * * * ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lan ...

, it is a synonym for women kept in purdah, used in southern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Photographs

The

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

rejected a petition challenging the

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

's dismissal of a petition on September 7, 2006, a few days prior to the

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

Central by-election which sought seeking for issuance of writ of mandamus forbearing the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, di ...

"from in any way publishing or releasing the photographs of the women particularly the Muslim Gosha women in the eligible voter's list in respect of all the Constituencies in the State of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

particularly for the ensuring bye-election to Madurai Central Assembly Constituency." The court observed that "electoral rolls with photographs cannot be opposed on the grounds that they hurt religious sentiments."

Exemption from the Administrator of Lakshadweep Islands

The Administrator of

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...

Islands exempts Gosha women from submitting photographs for entry permits. The islands are a Union territory of India, they are a restricted area wherein Indian citizens "...not a native of these islands, shall have to obtain a permit in the Prescribed Form from the Competent authority, for entering into and residing in these islands.

Medical needs

''History of Deccan'' mentions that until lady doctors arrived in 1884, gosha women of

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and t ...

were at the mercy of unqualified health practitioners. The Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

was earlier called The Victoria Caste and Gosha Hospital. Van Hollen sees purdah as an Orientalist "trope", which constructs the colonised other to legitimise colonial authority, she quotes Lal in pointing the contradiction in British policy, colonial discourse represented purdah as a sign of India's barbarism yet it accommodated it, as seen in the opening of the Gosha hospital.

Government Museum, Chennai

The Government Museum, Chennai had at one time provided a time slot for Gosha women. During such a time no male visitors were allowed.

References

{{reflist Women in India Purdah Islam in India

Photographs

Exemption from the Administrator of Lakshadweep Islands

Medical needs

Government Museum, Chennai

See also

References